Today, it is more and more common to combine standard microphones, such as for use in hearing aids, in-ear monitors and the like, with additional functionality, such as amplifiers, sensors, DSP's or the like. This, however, brings about the problem that malfunction of one of the microphone component and the chip(s) incorporating the added functionality will make the assembly useless. The present invention aims at solving this problem.
Prior art systems of this overall type may be seen, for example, in WO00/74437, EP0888031, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,366,678.